Hello all, I have a few questions, that I'll sort of roll into one post.

I'm currently enrolled in a technical school, but I've had two years of Henle Latin and hated it, even though I love the Latin language and want very much to learn it and become as fluent as I possibly can. (My ultimate goal is to be able to effortlessly think and converse in the language ---modest, I know!) I'm thinking my best bet is to purchase the Lingua Latina books and read/study them religiously, over and over, supplementing them with other Latin stories, old theology books, etc. to gain more confidence and ability in the language. Ideally, I would also like to listen to some spoken Latin. However, for the last several years, I've very carefully nurtured an Ecclesiastical pronunciation, such that it's very difficult for me to listen to classical recordings. Obviously, going for fluency, as much immersion as possible is best. To that end, does anybody have any suggestions? I know many in the Classics field tend to look down on the Ecclesiastical pronunciation, but I am a Catholic, and my main interest is the gigantic corpus of mediaeval Latin writings, as well as day-to-day conversation. So, for me, Ecclesiastical Latin (basically, the heir today of Mediaeval Latin) makes the most sense. I haven't been able to dig up much online.... it seems that almost everything is recorded or filmed in Classical pronunciation.

Salve. When I said the Hail Mary at my school's masses, they asked I pronounce it the church way. Nothing wrong with Church Latin. It is still Latin. The prejudice for the classical stems from the Renaissance break from church Latin when people like Petrarch were trying to write like Cicero. There developed groups of individuals, "docti," who prided themselves on their ability to use Cicero's Latin. Chi your "ci" to you little heart's content.

Sorry, I do not know about any recordings.

When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him. ~Swift

You should consider also purchasing the Cursus Linguae Latinae Vivae sold by the Familia Sancti Hieronymi. Click on Venalia. By the way, I plan to go to the Cenaculum in Mexico this year. That would be my third Cenaculum and I positevely loved the first two!

Bedwere, what kind of Latin skill would you say would be necessary for something like Cenaculum? I can read passably, (though I always have to fight not to translate in my mind) and though my vocabulary is very limited (unless we're talking about Caesarian stuff) I can get by speaking/understanding spoken Latin. (Undoubtedly, though, what I speak isn't elegant and is the sort of "broken" language that we often hear from newly-arrived immigrants in the US.) Should I consider attending, or wait for next year?

Bedwere, what kind of Latin skill would you say would be necessary for something like Cenaculum? I can read passably, (though I always have to fight not to translate in my mind) and though my vocabulary is very limited (unless we're talking about Caesarian stuff) I can get by speaking/understanding spoken Latin. (Undoubtedly, though, what I speak isn't elegant and is the sort of "broken" language that we often hear from newly-arrived immigrants in the US.) Should I consider attending, or wait for next year?

I think you'll be just fine. Come this year and you won't regret it. There are people of all levels, even children. The important thing is to try to stick to Latin as much as you can and avoid the people who "cheat" and fall back to English That's how I learned English, as a matter of fact: I toured Ireland alone. Then when I moved from my native Italy to the U.S. my English wasn't perfect (nor it is today), but I could easily communicate.